Ic unit carrier and its electrical interconnectors

ABSTRACT

An IC (integrated circuit) unit carrier comprising: A. a horizontal socket-board of the flat panel type having an allochiral arrangement of vertically extending perforations, including a left pair of thickness-traversing perforations spaced transversely from a right pair of corresponding perforations; B. an allochiral arrangement of left and right electrical interconnectors for said perforations, (1) each interconnector comprising (a) an electrically conductive body having bottom and top sides, (b) a pair of posts projecting downwardly from the bottom side of the body into a corresponding pair of said socketboard perforations to mount the interconnector on the top side of the socket-board, one of said posts providing the bottom side of said board with a downwardly-projecting terminal post for plugging into a main panel board, and (c) means extending upwardly from the top side of the body to provide an upper resiliently-closed pair of jaws for an electrical terminal of an IC unit carrier, (2) the left and right interconnectors on the socket-board cooperating with each other to provide the left and right halves of an upwardly-open downwardly-yieldable seat; and C. an actuator (1)bridging the horizontal space between interconnectors and (2) mounted on said yieldable seat (a) for manually actuated downward movement against the seat to open the corresponding left and right pairs of jaws and (b) for seatactuated upward return movement to close said left and right pairs of jaws. In use, an IC unit is placed against the top or back faces of an actuator seated on the carrier with one left and one right end terminal of the IC unit overlying one left and one right pair of closed jaws. Now both unit and actuator are pressed downwardly toward the socket-board to open the left and right pair of jaws and to move the terminals into the open jaws. After the terminals enter the jaws, the IC unit and the actuator are released whereupon the seat actuates their return movement to the jaw-closed position. During the 1st phase of such return movement, the jaws close upon said flat-pack terminals and thus prevent their continued movement out of the jaw space.

United States Patent [1 1 Robinson July 24, 1973 IC UNIT CARRIER AND ITS ELECTRICAL INTERCONNECTORS [75] Inventor: Samuel C. Robinson, New Albany,

Ind.

[73] Assignee: Robinson-Nugent, Inc., New Albany,

Ind.

[22] Filed: Aug. 10, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 170,605

3,416,122 12/1968 Kincaib 339/17 CF Primary Examiner-Marvin A. Champion Assistant Examiner-William F. Pate, III

Attorney-Arthur F. Robert [57] ABSTRACT An 1C (integrated circuit) unit carrier comprising: A. a horizontal socket-board of the flat panel type having an allochiral arrangement of vertically extending perforations, including a left pair of thickness-traversing perforations spaced transversely from a right pair of corresponding perforations; B. an allochiral arrangement of left and right electrical interconnectors for said perforations, (1) each interconnector comprising (a) an electrically conductive body having bottom and top sides, (b) a pair of posts projecting downwardly from the bottom side of the body into a corresponding pair of said socket-board perforations to mount the interconnector on the top side of the socket-board, one of said posts providing the bottom side of said board with a downwardly-projecting terminal post for plugging into a main panel board, and (c) means extending upwardly from the top side of the body to provide an upper resiliently-closed pair of jaws for an electrical terminal of an IC unit carrier, (2) the left and right interconnectors on the socket-board cooperating with each other to provide the left and right halves of an upwardly-open downwardly-yieldable seat; and C. an actuator (1)bridging the horizontal space between interconnectors and (2) mounted on said yieldable seat (a) for manually actuated downward movement against the seat to open the corresponding left and right pairs of jaws and (b) for seat-actuated upward return movement to close said left and right pairs of jaws. In use, an IC unit is placed against the top or back faces of an actuator seated on the carrier with one left and one right end terminal of the 1C unit overlying one left and one right pair of closed jaws. Now both unit and actuator are pressed downwardly toward the socket-board to open the left and right pair of jaws and to move the terminals into the open jaws. After the terminals enter the jaws, the 1C unitand the actuator are released whereupon the seat actuates their return movement to the jaw-closed position. During the 1st phase of such return movement, the jaws close upon said flat-pack terminals and thus prevent their continued movement out of the jaw space.

17 Claims, 15 Drawing Figures l I I Patented July 24, 1973 3,748,630

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 M LQII INVENTOR.

SAMUEL C. ROBINSON I BY ATTORNEY IC UNIT CARRIER AND ITS ELECTRICAL INTERCONNECTORS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field Of The Invention The present invention relates to an IC unit carrier and to the electrical interconnectors of such carrier.

Since a concrete example promotes clarity, the disclosure of the invention, as made hereinafter, will be largely restricted to a carrier for a flat-pack, i.e., an IC unit of conventional planar form, comprising a thin rectangular panel-like body of plastic, in which electrical units are embedded with their electrical terminals confined to the major plane of said body and arranged to project radially outward from the perimetric end edges of the body.

2. Description Of The Prior Art To enable an IC flat-pack of this planar end-terminal type to be connected into the circuit system of a main panel board, an intermediate construction, herein called a carrier, must be provided. In the Cobaugh et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,345,541, the carrier for the flat-pack comprises: A. a terminal block or socket-board having top and bottom faces; B. electrical interconnectors mounted on the socket-board to provide post terminals projecting from the bottom face of that board; C. a stationary flat-pack support or holder having its top face recessed to receive a flat-pack, which may then be secured to the holder by bending the flat-pack terminals downwardly and laterally around the holder; and D. means mounting the flat-pack holder on the socketboard and contemporaneously connecting the bent terminals of the flat-pack with the interconnectors on the socket-board. The post terminals of this carrier may now be plugged into the sockets of a test-board or of a main panel board.

In the Antes U.S. Pat. No. 3,391,383, the carrier comprises: A. a socket-board having top and bottom faces and left and right rows of interconnector receiving recesses; B. an electrical interconnector for each recess composed of a metal body housed in the recess, a terminal post projecting from the bottom side of the metal body downwardly beyond the bottom face of the socket-board and a top electrical contact surface provided at the top opening of the recess by the top edge of the interconnector body; and C. a cover hinged to one edge of the socket-board for movement from a cover-open position, in which a flat-pack may be placed against the top face of the socket-board with its terminals overlying the top contact surfaces of the interconnectors, to a cover-closed position, in which the cover depresses each flat-pack terminal downwardly and holds it against the corresponding top contact surface of the interconnectors.

The O'Neill et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,409,857 discloses a carrier comprising: A. a perforated socket-board; and B. electrical interconnectors mounted in the perforations to provide downwardly-extending terminal posts on the bottom side and crimpable trough-shaped terminals on the top side for receiving the terminals of a flatpack before crimping the troughs and for pennanently holding those terminals tightly after the troughs" are crimped.

The Barnes et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,409,861 discloses a carrier comprising: A. a perforated socket-board; B. electrical connectors mounted in the perforations to provide downwardly extending posts on the bottom side and laterally-extending downwardly-yieldable resilient contacts on the top side of the socket-board; C. a base" having top and bottom faces and a centrallydisposed recess in its bottom face; D. means on the base for yieldably holding a flat-pack within its bottom face recess with the terminals of the flat-pack in position to engage the top yieldable contacts of the electrical interconnectors on the socket-board when the bottom face of the base is operatively positioned against the top face of the socket-board; and E. a piv otal top closurev mounted on the socket-board and cooperating therewith, when closed, to sandwich the base between the top cover and the socket-board.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Objects Of The Invention The principal objects of the present invention are: to provide, for an IC unit carrier, an electrical interconnector which has one or more of the following features, namely, it is simply and sturdily constructed, easy to mount on and remove from the carrier and effective to provide contact wiping action when an IC unit is electrically connected to it or disconnected from it; and to provide an IC uit carrier which has one or more of the following features, namely, it is simply and sturdily constructed, easy to assemble or disassemble, easy to load with an IC unit and just as easy to unload that unit, and effective to provide contact wiping action during the loading and unloading operations.

Statement Of The Invention Some important objects of the present invention are achieved in an electrical interconnector, comprising: A. a main electrically-conductive body having top and bottom sides; B. bottom post-providing means l integrated with said body and (2) fashioned to provide, on the bottom side of the body, a plurality of downwardly projecting posts, including at least one anchoring post and one electrical terminal post; and C. top electricalcontact means (1) integrated with the body, and (2) fashioned to provide, above the top side of the body, a pair of opposed clamping jaws, which receive and clamp a flat-pack electrical terminal between them, a. one of said jaws being (i) resiliently biased upwardly toward the other for clamping-jaw-closing purposes, (ii) yieldably actuatable downwardly away from the other for clamping-jaw-opening purposes, and (iii) operative, during jaw opening and closing movements, to subject an IC unit terminal in the jaw space to a lateral sliding or wiping action.

Other important objects of my invention are accomplished in a carrier comprising: A. a socket-board having an allochiral arrangement of perforations, including one left pair of vertical thickness-traversing perforations widely spaced transversely from a corresponding right pair of perforations; B. a pair of my aforesaid interconnectors allochirally mounted on the socketboard, one in the left pair of perforations and the other in the right pair thereof, each left (and right) interconnector having the bottom side ofits body placed closely adjacent the top face of the socket-board with its bottom anchoring post extending downwardly into one perforation of the left (and right) pair and with its bottom electrical terminal post not only extending downwardly through another perforation of the same left (and right) pair but also projecting downwardly beyond the bottom face of the socket-board to provide a left (and right) terminal post, and with its top contact members projecting upwardly on the top side of the socket-board with their left (and right) pairs of clamping jaws in their normally-closed position, the left and right interconnectors cooperating with each other to provide the opposite sides and adjacent bottom margins of an upwardly-open downwardly-yieldable.seat; and C. a clamping jaw actuator bridging the space between left and right interconnectors and mounted on said seat for manually actuated movement with the seat from an upper operative position, corresponding to the closed position of the left and right pairs of jaws, downwardly to a bottom transient position, corresponding to the open position of the left and right pairs of jaws and, when released, for seat-actuated automatic return movement to its upper operative jaw-closed terminalclamping position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The preferred embodiment of my invention is illustrated, on a greatly enlarged scale, in the drawing wherein:

FIGS. 1 and 2 are end and (broken) side elevational views, respectively, of a l-piece electrical interconnector constructed in accordance with my invention;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are top and bottom views, respectively, of the interconnector as it appears in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of an IC unit carrier constructed in accordance with my invention, this view showing a pair of left and right electrical interconnectors as they appear when allochirally integrated into a socket-board and provided with an actuator;

FIG. 6 is a bottom plan view of the carrier of FIG. 5 except that the boundary lines and perforations of the socket-board are shown in dotted lines to avoid obscuring the relationship of the bottom surface of the left and right interconnectors;

FIG. 7 is a partly broken top plan view of the carrier seen in FIG. 5, the right half of the carrier being shown phase of the jaw-closing movement at the instant when the split upper jaw recloses.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Electrical lnterconnectors Each electrical interconnector, constructed in accordance with my invention, is composed of three physically integrated elements comprising: A. an electrically conductive body having top and bottom sides; B. bottom post-providing means for the socket-board; and C. top electrical contact means for the IC unit.

Body

The interconnector body is C-shaped in horizontal section; hence may be viewed as being composed of an elongate strip of flat strap metal having its width dimension arranged vertically and its length dimension extending horizontally. As seen in FIGS. 2-4, this C- shaped body 10 has a bight 11 at its right end and straight horizontally-spaced legs 12 and 13 extending leftwardly from bight 11. The mid-portion of leg 12 of the body is formed with a flat outward embossment or hump 14 while the right end portion of leg 13 of the body is similarly formed with a flat outward embossment or hump 15. These humps promote the securement of desired alignment between terminal posts as will be subsequently explained herein.

Post-Providing Means The bottom post-providing means is integrated with the body 10 and fashioned to provide, on the bottom side thereof, a downwardly projecting lug 17 adjacent the left end of leg 13 and a pair of downwardly projecting elongate posts 18 and 19, one on each of the leg humps l4 and 15. Thus, each left interconnector has a center post 18 on leg 12 and a right end post 19 on leg 13.

Top-contact Means L-shaped posts The top electrical contact means is integrated with the body and fashioned to provide, on the top side of in full plan, a small portion of the extreme left ends of the body three upwardly extending members 2 2 the left series of interconnectors and the corresponding end of the socket-board being omitted, a much larger portion of the left end of the actuator being broken away to expose the underlying portion of the left series of interconnectors and provide a top plan view thereof;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary perspective view of the left end portion of the actuator, this view otherwise corresponding to a section taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 9 is a side elevational view of the IC unit carrier corresponding to the jaw-closed elevational view shown in FIG. 5 wherein the actuator is in its extreme top position, this view additionally showing a flat-pack on the back face of the actuator;

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary elevational view of a portion of the left end of FIG. 9, this portion being restricted to one terminal of the flat-pack;

FIGS. 11 and 12 correspond to FIGS. 9 and 10 but show the downwardly-moving flat-pack and actuator in an intermediate position between their extreme top jaw-fully-closed and bottom jaw-fully-open positions respectively;

FIGS. 13 and 14 correspond to FIGS. 9 and 10 and FIGS. lll2 but show the flat-pack and actuator in their extreme bottom positions;

FIG. 15 corresponds to FIG. 12 but shows the upwardly-returning flat-pack and actuator in the intermediate position which they reach at the end of the 1st one on the bight at the right end of the body and the other two on the legs at the left end portion of the body 10. The bight end member 21, of the three upwardly extending members, has the lower part 24 of its length sloping leftwardly upward from the bight member 11, thence extending directly upward through the next part 25 of its length and finally terminating in a leftwardly or outwardly directed horizontal part 26 which consti- 50 tutes the bottom jaw 26 of a pair of normally-closed clamping jaws 26, 27.

The other two upwardly-extending members 22 and 23 converge toward each other through substantial corresponding parts 28 of their respective lengths, next diverge more sharply through short corresponding parts 29 of their respective lengths, thence pass directly upward through short corresponding parts 30 and finally pass directly toward each other through very short corresponding terminal parts 27 constituting the opposite horizontally-extending front and rear halves of top jaw The bottom and top jaws 26, 27 are normally superposed one over the other in close horizontal face-toface relationship and function cooperatively to receive and clamp one electrical terminal of a flat-pack between them. The bottom jaw 26 is resiliently biased upwardly for clamping-jaw-closing purposes and, for clamping-jaw-opening purposes, is actuatable downwardly against its resilient bias by pressing downwardly against the sloping part 24 of the upwardly-extending member 21 at the right or bight end of the body.

The two halves of the top clamping jaw 27 are horizontally biased forwardly and rearwardly respectively into close edge-to-edge facing relationship and are yieldably separated against that bias to provide, between their adjacent end edges, an access opening on the top side of the clamping space between jaws 26 and 27, when such jaws are themselves in their open vertically-separated position. The front and rear halves of top jaw 27 are yieldably separated, during the jaw opening movement, by causing the downwardly moving lower jaw 26 to engage the sharply diverging parts 29 of the two upwardly-extending members 22 and 23 and, through such engagement, cam those members apart. The top access opening, thus created between the front and rear halves of jaw 27, enables an electrical terminal of a flat-pack to be inserted into or removed from the operative clamping space of the clamping jaws 26, 27.

The electrical interconnectors in the right series are identical to those in the left series.

Carrier A carrier, constructed in accordance with my invention, is composed of three physically separate elements, comprising: A. a socket-board; B. at least one pair of right and left interconnectors mounted on the socketboard; and C. a clamping jaw actuator mounted on the interconnectors;

To promote clarity and understanding of the disclosure, we note: that the carrier includes four pairs of electrical interconnectors mounted on the socketboard in two groups, namely, a left group and a right group; that this carrier is intended to be interposed between an IC flat-pack and a main panel board; and that, when interposed, its left and right electrical interconnectors function to connect the left and right end terminals of the flat-pack into the circuitry of the main panel board, which is assumed to have its major plane lying horizontally and its thickness-traversing perforations, into which the terminal posts of the carrier are plugged, extending vertically.

Socket-Board The socket-board 34 has top and bottom faces and an allochiral arrangement of transversely-spaced left and right groups of vertically-extending thicknesstraversing perforations. The perforations of each group are arranged in longitudinally-extending rows comprising: an inner row 35 of perforations 35, a center row 36 of perforations 36 and an outer row 37 of perforations 37. The perforations of each row are suitably but closely spaced longitudinally, i.e., the forwardrearward direction, while the longitudinal rows are suitably spaced transversely, i.e., the leftward-rightward direction. In this connection, it will be noted that the spacing between inner row 35 and center row 36 is much larger than the longitudinal spacing between adjacent perforations in either row 35 or 36. Mounting Of lnterconnectors The interconnectors are mounted on the socketboard through its top side. They are arranged allochirally in two series comprising a left series for the left group of perforations 35-37 and a right series for the right group of perforations 35-37. The immediately following description of the mounting of the interconnectors on the carrier is initially confined to those contained in the left group or series.

Each interconnector of the left series is mounted: with the bottom side of its body 10 placed closely adjacent the top face of the socket-board 34; with its downwardly projecting lug 17 (on the free end of its leg 13) extending downwardly into a perforation 37 of the outer row 37; with either one elongate post 18 extending downwardly into a center row perforation 36 or its other elongate post 19 extending downwardly through an inner row perforation 35.

Since only one terminal post is required for each interconnector of the left series, only one of the elongate posts 18 or 19 need extend entirely through its socket board perforation and project downwardly beyond the bottom face of the board. The remaining post preferably is cut off to confine its length within the perforation into which it extends and thus utilize that shortened post as an additional anchoring post in the form of a second lug.

It should be noted that, if all of the terminal posts of all interconnectors in the left series were located in one row, either an inner row 35 or in center row 36, they would be closely spaced together. It is desirable to maximize the spacing between adjacent terminal posts of adjacent interconnectors of the left series and, in order to do this, I use: the center posts 18 of the alternate interconnectors (lst, 3rd, etc.) as terminal posts 18; the bight end posts 19 of the remaining interconnectors (2nd, 4th, etc.) as terminal posts 19. As previously stated, the bight end posts 19 of alternate interconnectors (lst, 3rd, etc.) and the center posts 18 of the remaining interconnectors (2nd, 4th, etc.) may therefore be and preferably are cut off to confine their respective lengths within their respective perforations and thus utilize the resulting shortened posts as anchoring posts in the form of center lugs designated 18A and bight end lugs designated 19A, respectively.

From the bottom view shown in FIG. 6, it will be appreciated that hump 14 for the center terminal posts 18 of the 1 st interconnector in the left series cooperates with right end hump 15 of the 2nd" interconnector in the left series to place their respective terminal posts 18 and 19 in transverse (left to right) alignment which fa cilitates the wire wrapping of these posts by machine. The same is true with respect to the 3rd and 4th interconnectors of the left series and to all additional interconnectors, which may be added thereto.

In FIG. 6, if the left series of interconnectors were retated horizontally about the center point 38, the right series would reproduce the left series allochirally with the sequential order of the interconnectors reversed, as shown. Vertical rotation about an axis passing longitudinally through center point 38 produces an allochiral arrangement having the same sequential order in each series.

With respect to the interconnectors of the right series, it should sufi'ice therefore to say that they are identical to those of the left series; hence, the above given description of the left series applies equally to the right series. Additionally, it may be noted that, since the interconnector arrangement is allochiral, the terminal posts 18 and 19 of the lst and 2nd interconnectors of the left series are transversely aligned with the terminal posts 19 and 18 of the 4th and 3rd interconnectors in the right series and all four interconnectors are equally spaced in transverse alignment to secure all advantages inherent in a symmetrical arrangement including machine wire wrapping.

Before passing, it may be noted that left series sections 24 and 25 [of the bight end member 21 of the top contact means of the left series of mounted electrical interconnectors] cooperate with right series sections 24 and 25 [of the bight end member 21 of the right series of mounted interconnectors] to provide the left and right sides and left and right bottom margins of an upwardly-open U-shaped seat upon which the actuator 40 is seated or mounted for movement between the extreme top position, which it normally occupies, and the extreme bottom position to which it may be moved and which it occupies only transiently. The Actuator The movably mounted actuator 40 comprises: a bottom plate 41, upon which a flat-pack may be placed; and a pair of side rails 42, each of which has its inner vertical face horizontally grooved at 43 to receive and mount the corresponding side margin of plate 41, its top surface serrated at 44 to receive the corresponding electrical terminal of a flat-pack on the bottom plate 41 and its outer face provided with a series of horizontallyspaced vertically-arranged slits 45 to receive lugs 46 on the corresponding vertical sections 25 of the bight end members 21. With this arrangement, the actuator 40 is securely mounted in the seat for movement therewith and firmly retained on the seat against accidental displacement or removal.

Operation The operation of the preferred embodiment of my invention will be readily appreciated from an explanation of FIGS. 9-14. In FIGS. 9 l0, a flat-pack 50, having a series of electrical terminals 51 projecting radially from each of its ends, is shown resting upon the bottom plate 41 of the actuator 40. Each left end terminal 51 of the flat-pack projects into and through the corresponding left rail serration 44 of the actuator to overlie the corresponding pair of closed jaws of the left series of interconnectors, these jaws comprising bottom jaw 26 and split top jaw 27. Each right end terminal 51 of flat-pack 50 enjoys the same relationship with the corresponding right rail serration 44 of actuator 40 and the corresponding pair of closed jaws of the interconnectors of the right series.

Now, when the flat-pack S is pressed downwardly against bottom plate 41 of the actuator 40 and thus moved to the intermediate position shown in FIGS. l1-l2, each bottom jaw 26 is moved downwardly to its corresponding intermediate position, at the upper end of the corresponding cam cooperatively formed by the upwardly diverging or downwardly converging parts 29 of the upwardly-extending contact members 22 and 23 of the interconnector, whereas the position of the split top jaw 27 remains unchanged. In moving from the extreme top position to the intermediate position, each end terminal 51 of the flat-pack 50 is forced to flex so that its free end portion slopes upwardly. It should be understood that, in this embodiment, each end terminal 51 is composed of resilient material which normally assumes a level horizontal position in its extreme top position and which, when flexed and held out of that position, will be spring biased toward that position.

As the flat-pack 50 is manually forced to continue its downward movement and thus moved from its intermediate FIGS. 11-12 position to its extreme bottom position shown in FIGS. 1314, each bottom jaw 26 undergoes downwardly-moving engagement with the cam of downwardly converging parts 29 to force the opposed halves of the split top jaw 27 to move laterally away from each other and, through such engagement, provide an access opening into the space between the upper and lower clamping jaws. As a result, each flexed end terminal 51 springs downwardly through its access opening into the open jaw space immediately above the bottom jaw 26 and then assumes the horizontally-levellaterally-directed position shown in FIGS. 1344.

Now, when the downward pressure on the flat-pack is released, the upwardly-directed spring bias of the seat, cooperatively provided by the left and right series of interconnectors, will force the actuator 40 upwardly toward its top extreme position. During the lst phase of this upward movement, the bottom jaw member 26 moves upwardly to its intermediate position as seen in FIG. 15 and, as a result of such movement, releases the upwardly diverging parts 29 of the cam to permit the opposed halves of the split jaw 27 to return to their original positions. In so doing, the split jaw 27 closes over the top side of the electrical terminal 51 before that terminal can be moved upwardly out of the jaw space.

During the last phase of the upward return movement of bottom jaw 26, it engages the bottom side of end terminal 51 and forces that terminal upwardly until it is clamped between the bottom jaw member 26 and the closed split jaw member 27.

Wiping Action In order to minimize contact resistance, it is desirable to provide some wiping action between each end terminal 51 of a flat-pack 50 and either or both of the jaws 26 and 27. This is accomplished in the present arrangement because, as the bottom jaw 26 moves arcuately upward to engage a terminal 51 and move that terminal upwardly into its clamped position, the small horizontal component of that movement causes the jaw to slide horizontally across and wipe the engaged face of the terminal. A corresponding small wiping action in the reverse direction will occur when the bottom jaw 26 is moved to unclamp the corresponding end terminal 51. Intervening & Intermediate Members Each of the upwardly extending members 21 which comprises upwardly inclined part 24, upwardly extending vertical part 25 and lower jaw 26 may be described as comprising an upwardly extending intervening top-side member integrated at its lower end with the bight 11 of the body and integrated at its upper end with lower jaw 26, the lower portion 24 of this intervening top-side member being inclined upwardly, resiliently biased upwardly for lower jaw biasing purposes and actuatable downwardly for lower jaw actuating purposes.

Each of the upwardly extending members 22 and 23, which comprises upwardly converging vertical part 28, upwardly diverging vertical part 29, upwardly extending vertical part 30 and a horizontal split part of upper jaw 27 may also be described as comprising an upwardly extending intermediate top-side member integrated, at its lower end, with the free end portion of one leg of the body, and integrated, at its upper end, with a split jaw part 27.

Broad Aspect of the Invention Broadly speaking, the electrical interconnector comprises: A. an electrically conductive L-shaped member having a horizontal foot portion 12, 13 and an upright leg portion 22, 23 providing one electrical contact jaw 27 at its upper end; B. a pair of horizontally spaced bottom side posts 17 and 18 or 19 projecting downwardly from the foot portion of said member; and C. an electrically conductive top-side element 21 integrated with the toe end of said L-shaped member, including upwardly across the inner angle of said L-shaped member and providing, at its upper end, another electrical contact jaw 26 which is arranged in face-to-face relationship with said one jaw 27, resiliently biased into a jawclosed position and actuatable therefrom into a jaw open position.

MODIFICATION To facilitate the unclamping and removal of a flatpack 50, some part of the actuator 40, such as the side rails 42, may be extended upwardly to an extent sufficient to enable an operator to engage the actuatorextension and, through such engagement, move the actuator downwardly without pressing upon the flat-pack. This downward movement, which the operator could effect with one hand, would open the clamping jaws and thus release the flat-pack whereupon the operator could use his other hand to engage and remove the flatpack.

Such a modification of the actuator would also permit an incoming new or replacement flat-pack to be placed over the actuator with its horizontally-level end terminals resting upon the closed split jaws 27. Now, when the actuator is engaged and moved downwardly away from and independently of the flat-pack, the flatpacks end terminals will drop downwardly into the clamping space of the jaws as soon as the opposed halves of the split top jaw are appropriately opened. This would eliminate the necessity of flexing the end terminals of the flat-pack in mounting that flat-pack on and electrically connecting it to the interconnectors.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. An electrical interconnector for connecting one terminal of an IC unit into the circuitry of a main panel board, comprising;

A. an electrically conductive L-shaped member havl. a horizontal foot portion, and

2. an upright leg portion providing one electrical contact jaw at its upper end;

B. a pair of horizontally spaced bottom-side posts projecting downwardly from the foot portion of said member; and

C. an electrically conductive top-side element 1. integrated with the toe of said L-shaped member,

2. inclining upwardly across the inner angle of said L-shaped member, and

3. providing, at its upper end, another electrical contact jaw,

a. which is arranged in face-to-face relationship with said one jaw, resiliently biased into a jawclosed position and actuatable therefrom into a jaw-open position.

2. A carrier for connecting an IC unit into the circuitry of a main panel board comprising:

A. a socket-board having bottom and top faces and two laterally-spaced series of spaced perforations extending vertically through said socket-board,

l. the perforations of each series being arranged in at least two longitudinally-extending laterallyspaced rows;

B. two series of interconnectors of the type having an Llshaped member, bottom-side psots and a topside element, all according to claim 1,

1. one series of interconnectors for each of said series of perforations,

2. each interconnector being mounted on the socket-board a. with the foot of its L-shaped member alongside the top face of the socket-board,

b. with its bottom-side posts extending downwardly into two perforations, one in each of two rows, one post providing a terminal on the bottom side of the socket-board, and

with its opposed clamping jawsspaced upwardly from the top face of the socket-board; and

C. an actuator I 1. extending from one series of interconnectors to the other,

2. mounted on said interconnectors for downward movement against the resilient bias of said other jaws from an upper position, corresponding to said jaw-closed position, to a lower position,'corresponding to said jaw-open position, and

3. operative, when moved downwardly, to open said jaws.

3. The carrier of claim 2 wherein:

A. said two series of interconnectors are mounted allochirally l. with their toe ends pointing toward each other.

4. The carrier of claim 3 wherein:

A. the jaws of one series are spaced laterally from the jaws of the other series to underlie the opposite end terminals of an IC unit when such unit is operatively placed over the actuator and arranged to span the space between said series,

1. said jaws beng operative to receive said unit end terminals when the actuator is moved downwardly.

5. The carrier of claim 4 wherein:

A. the top-side elements of one series cooperate with the corresponding elements of the other series to form a yieldable seat for said actuator,

1. said actuator being operative when moved downwardly, to move the seat downwardly, and

2. said seat being operative, when the actuator is released, to return itself and said actuator to their respective upper positions; and

B. said jaws are operative to close and clamp said unit end tenninals during the return movement of said seat,

1. each lower jaw, during the upper portion of its return movement, undergoes a component of horizontal movement providing it with a horizontal wiping action on the overlying surface of a unit end terminal.

6. An electrical interconnector for connecting one tenninal of an IC unit into the circuitry of a main panel board, comprising:

A. a main electrically conductive body having bottorn and top sides;

B. bottom-side post-providing means 1. integrated with said body, and

2. fashioned to provide at least two spaced posts projecting downwardly from the bottom side of the body; and

C. top-side jaw-providing means l. integrated with said body, and 2. fashioned to provide a pair of opposed upper and lower horizontally extending clamping jaws spaced upwardly from the top-side of the body and arranged to receive and support a flat-pack electrical terminal between them,

a. the lower jaw being resiliently biased toward the upper jaw for jaw-closing purposes and actuatable downwardly away from the upper jaw for jaw-opening purposes.

7. The interconnector of claim 6 wherein:

A. said upper jaw is vertically split into two horizontally opposed parts, which are biased horizontally toward each other,

1. each split part being connected to the body by an intermediate part; and

B. said lower jaw is operative, upon downward movement, to engage at least one of said intermediate parts and, through such engagement, move one of said split parts horizontally away from the other to provide an access opening to the clamping space between the upper and lower jaws.

8. The interconnector of claim 7 wherein:

A. an intermediate part which connects a split upperjaw part to said body provides a cam in position for engagement by the actuatable lower jaw during the downward movement of that lower jaw; and

B. said lower jaw is operative, through its downwardly moving engagement with said cam, to move at least one split upper-jaw part away from the other split upper-jaw part.'

9. An electrical interconnector for connecting one terminal of an IC unit into the circuitry of a main panel board, comprising:

A. a main electrically conductive body having bottom and top sides,

1. said body being of C-shape in horizontal section having a closed end, a free end and a pair of horizontally extending laterally spaced legs connected together at said closed end by a bight;

B. bottom-side post-providing means 1. integrated with said body, and 2. fashioned to provide at least two spaced posts projecting downwardly from the bottom side of the body,

a. said posts including at least one anchoring post and one electrical terminal post; and

C. Top-side jaw-providing means 1. integrated with said body, and 2. fashioned to provide a pair of opposed clamping jaws spaced upwardly from the top-side of the body and arrranged to receive and support a flatpack electrical terminal between them, said jaws including a. a vertically split upper jaw having two horizontally-opposed parts which are biased horizontally toward each other, and

b. an underlying lower jaw resiliently biased upwardly toward the upper jaw for jaw-closing purposes and actuatable downwardly away from the upper jaw for jaw-opening purposes.

10. The interconnector of claim 9 including:

A. a pair of intermediate top-side members, one integrated with the free end portion of each body-leg,

I. each intermediate member extending upwardly from its body leg and terminating in a split jaw part.

11. The interconnector of claim 10 including:

A. an intervening top-side member integrated with said body bight and extending upwardly therefrom and terminating in said lower jaw,

l. the lower portion of said member being a. inclined upwardly,

b. resiliently biased upwardly for lower jaw biasing purposes, and

c. actuatable downwardly for lower jaw actuating purposes.

12. The interconnector of claim 10 wherein:

A. said pair of intermediate top-side members cooperate to provide a cam positioned for engagement by said downwardly actuatable lower jaw during its downward movement; and

B. said lower jaw being operative, through its downwardly moving engagement with said cam, to move at least one split part of said upper jaw away from the other split part thereof.

13. A carrier for connecting an IC unit into the circuitry of a main panel board, comprising:

A. a socket-board having bottom and top faces and two laterally-spaced series of spaced perforations extending vertically through said socket-board,

1. the perforations of each series being arranged in at least two longitudinally-extending laterallyspaced rows;

B. two series of interconnectors of the type having a body, bottom-side post-providing means and topside jaw-providing means,

1. one series of interconnectors for each of said series of perforations,

2. each interconnector being mounted on the socket-board a. with its body along the top face of the socketboard,

b. with its bottom-side posts extending downwardly into two perforations, one in each of two rows, one post projecting beyond the bottom face of the socket-board to provide a terminal post, and c. with its opposed clamping jaws spaced upwardly from the top face of the socket-board; and

C. an actuator 1. extending from one series of interconnectors to the other,

2. mounted on both series of interconnectors for downward movement, against the resilient bias of said one jaws, from an upper position, corresponding to one in which said jaws are closed, to a lower position, and

3. operative, when moved donwwardly, to open said jaws.

14. The carrier of claim 13 wherein:

A. said body is of C-shape in horizontal section having a pair of horizontally-extending laterallyspaced legs connected together at one end by a bight;

B. said post-providing means provides a plurality of downwardly projecting posts including at least one anchoring post and one electrical terminal post;

C. the jaws of said jaw-providing means are disposed as upper and lower horizontal jaws,

1. the lower jaw a. being the resiliently biased jaw and also b. being actuatable downwardly away from the upper jaw for jaw-opening purposes; and D. said jaw-providing means also includes an intervening top-side member integrated with said body bight and extending upwardly therefrom with its upper end providing said lower jaw, l. the lower portion of said intervening member being a. inclined upwardly, b. resiliently biased upwardly for lower jaw bias ing purposes, and c. actuatable downwardly for lower jaw actuating purposes. 15. The carrier of claim 14 wherein: A. said series of intereonnectors are mounted allochirally l. with the bight ends of the bodies of one series relatively adjacent the bight ends of the bodies of the other series, and

2. with their top-side elements corresponding to form a seat for said actuator.

16. The carrier of claim 15 wherein:

A. the jaws of one series are spaced laterally from the jaws of the other series to underlie the opposite end terminals of an IC unit when such unit is operatively placed over the actuator and arranged to span the space between said series,

1. said jaws being operative to receive said unit end terminals when the seat is moved downwardly.

17. The carrier of claim 17 wherein:

A. said jaws are operative to close and clamp said unit end terminals during the return movement of said seat,

1. each lower jaw, during the upper portion of its return movement, undergoes a component of horizontal movement providing it with a horizontal wiping action on the overlying surface of a unit end terminal. 

1. An electrical interconneCtor for connecting one terminal of an IC unit into the circuitry of a main panel board, comprising; A. an electrically conductive L-shaped member having
 1. a horizontal foot portion, and
 2. an upright leg portion providing one electrical contact jaw at its upper end; B. a pair of horizontally spaced bottom-side posts projecting downwardly from the foot portion of said member; and C. an electrically conductive top-side element
 1. integrated with the toe of said L-shaped member,
 2. inclining upwardly across the inner angle of said L-shaped member, and
 3. providing, at its upper end, another electrical contact jaw, a. which is arranged in face-to-face relationship with said one jaw, resiliently biased into a jaw-closed position and actuatable therefrom into a jaw-open position.
 2. with their top-side elements corresponding to form a seat for said actuator.
 2. an upright leg portion providing one electrical contact jaw at its upper end; B. a pair of horizontally spaced bottom-side posts projecting downwardly from the foot portion of said member; and C. an electrically conductive top-side element
 2. inclining upwardly across the inner angle of said L-shaped member, and
 2. A carrier for connecting an IC unit into the circuitry of a main panel board comprising: A. a socket-board having bottom and top faces and two laterally-spaced series of spaced perforations extending vertically through said socket-board,
 2. mounted on both series of interconnectors for downward movement, against the resilient bias of said one jaws, from an upper position, corresponding to one in which said jaws are closed, to a lower position, and
 2. each interconnector being mounted on the socket-board a. with its body along the top face of the socket-board, b. with its bottom-side posts extending downwardly into two perforations, one in each of two rows, one post projecting beyond the bottom face of the socket-board to provide a terminal post, and c. with its opposed clamping jaws spaced upwardly from the top face of the socket-board; and C. an actuator
 2. fashioned to provide a pair of opposed clamping jaws spaced upwardly from the top-side of the body and arrranged to receive and support a flat-pack electrical terminal between them, said jaws including a. a vertically split upper jaw having two horizontally-opposed parts which are biased horizontally toward each other, and b. an underlying lower jaw resiliently biased upwardly toward the upper jaw for jaw-closing purposes and actuatable downwardly away from the upper jaw for jaw-opening purposes.
 2. fashioned to provide a pair of opposed upper and lower horizontally extending clamping jaws spaced upwardly from the top-side of the body and arranged to receive and support a flat-pack electrical terminal between them, a. the lower jaw being resiliently biased toward the upper jaw for jaw-closing purposes and actuatable downwardly away from the upper jaw for jaw-opening purposes.
 2. mounted on said interconnectors for downward movement against the resilient bias of said other jaws from an upper position, corresponding to said jaw-closed position, to a lower position, corresponding to said jaw-open position, and
 2. each interconnector being mounted on the socket-board a. with the foot of its L-shaped member alongside the top face of the socket-board, b. with its bottom-side posts extending downwardly into two perforations, one in each of two rows, one post providing a terminal on the bottom side of the socket-board, and with its opposed clamping jaws spaced upwardly from the top face of the socket-board; and C. an actuator
 2. fashioned to provide at least two spaced posts projecting downwardly froM the bottom side of the body; and C. top-side jaw-providing means
 2. said seat being operative, when the actuator is released, to return itself and said actuator to their respective upper positions; and B. said jaws are operative to close and clamp said unit end terminals during the return movement of said seat,
 2. fashioned to provide at least two spaced posts projecting downwardly from the bottom side of the body, a. said posts including at least one anchoring post and one electrical terminal post; and C. Top-side jaw-providing means
 3. The carrier of claim 2 wherein: A. said two series of interconnectors are mounted allochirally
 3. operative, when moved downwardly, to open said jaws.
 3. operative, when moved donwwardly, to open said jaws.
 3. providing, at its upper end, another electrical contact jaw, a. which is arranged in face-to-face relationship with said one jaw, resiliently biased into a jaw-closed position and actuatable therefrom into a jaw-open position.
 4. The carrier of claim 3 wherein: A. the jaws of one series are spaced laterally from the jaws of the other series to underlie the opposite end terminals of an IC unit when such unit is operatively placed over the actuator and arranged to span the space between said series,
 5. The carrier of claim 4 wherein: A. the top-side elements of one series cooperate with the corresponding elements of the other series to form a yieldable seat for said actuator,
 6. An electrical interconnector for connecting one terminal of an IC unit into the circuitry of a main panel board, comprising: A. a main electrically conductive body having bottom and top sides; B. bottom-side post-providing means
 7. The interconnector of claim 6 wherein: A. said upper jaw is vertically split into two horizontally opposed parts, which are biased horizontally toward each other,
 8. The interconnector of claim 7 wherein: A. an intermediate part which connects a split upper-jaw part to said body provides a cam in position for engagement by the actuatable lower jaw during the downward movement of that lower jaw; and B. said lower jaw is operative, through its downwardly moving engagement with said cam, to move at least one split upper-jaw part away from the other split upper-jaw part.
 9. An electrical interconnector for connecting one terminal of an IC unit into the circuitry of a main panel board, comprising: A. a main electrically conductive body having bottom and top sides,
 10. The interconnector of claim 9 including: A. a pair of intermediate top-side members, one integrated with the free end portion of each body-leg,
 11. The interconnector of claim 10 including: A. an intervening top-side member integrated with said body bight and extending upwardly therefrom and terminating in said lower jaw,
 12. The interconnector of claim 10 wherein: A. said pair of intermediate top-side members cooperate to provide a cam positioned for engagement by said downwardly actuatable lower jaw during its downward movement; and B. said lower jaw being operative, through its downwardly moving engagement with said cam, to move at least one split part of said upper jaw away from the other split part thereof.
 13. A carrier for connecting an IC unit into the circuitry of a main panel board, comprising: A. a socket-board having bottom and top faces and two laterally-spaced series of spaced perforations extending vertically through said socket-board,
 14. The carrier of claim 13 wherein: A. said body is of C-shape in horizontal section having a pair of horizontally-extending laterally-spaced legs connected together at one end by a bight; B. said post-providing means provides a plurality of downwardly projecting posts including at least one anchoring post and one electrical terminal post; C. the jaws of said jaw-providing means are disposed as upper and lower horizontal jaws,
 15. The carrier of claim 14 wherein: A. said series of interconnectors are mounted allochirally
 16. The carrier of claim 15 wherein: A. the jaws of one series are spaced laterally from the jaws of the other series to underlie the opposite end terminals of an IC unit when such unit is operatively placed over the actuator and arranged to span the space between said series,
 17. The carrier of claim 17 wherein: A. said jaws are operative to close and clamp said unit end terminals during the return movement of said seat, 